Sir Cliff Richard is suing BBC and police for $1.7 million for live broadcasting police raid

Pop legend Cliff Richard is suing the BBC for $1.7 million in damages. Photo / Supplied

Sir Cliff Richard is suing the BBC and the South Yorkshire Police for £1 million (NZ $1.7m) following its live broadcast of the police raid on his home in 2014.

According to the Daily Mail, Richard's lawyers issued letters to both organisations, outlining his intention to sue for "misuse of private information".

Police raided Richard's home to investigate historic sexual abuse allegations, and Richard claims detectives "unlawfully colluded" with reporters to invade his privacy during that time.

The abuse case went on for 22 months, with Richard describing it as a "living hell". So now the case has now been dropped, the singer is seeking payment for damages.

Richard claims that as a result of the raid and broadcast, his album was put on hold, he became ill as a result of stress which meant he couldn't perform, and his winery business suffered, costing him the estimated £1m.

According to Daily Mail, a source close to Richard said he didn't make the decision "to take on two British institutions lightly", but he wants to ensure they're held accountable and that "no one else should suffer as he did".

"The essence of this is that he does not want anyone who is innocent, like him, to go through what he has experienced in the past two years," the source said.

"He is in the fortunate position of being able to try to do something about this and we hope the judge in due course will find that there has been an unlawful misuse of private information."